2/21/14

#ResistenciaVzla, plus a defense of Garden State-based debuts

Over the past few weeks, except for the 2nd & 3rd posts of this calendar year, I've mostly stayed away from the international political scene in favor of "lesser" topics, mostly commenting on controversial "show business" or sports moments, mostly in defense of their subjects! More on that later (especially with a jealous 1990s singer recently butting into this generation's crop of talents, apparently unaware that her time has passed her by!), but before then, I'd like to introduce you people to the de facto leader of the ongoing Venezuelan (opposition) protests, Leopoldo López Mendoza… Educated at Harvard Law School, where he got his Master's in public policy, he's been the unofficial opposition leader down in Venezuela, which has gone from relative stability (B.C.; or, in this case, before Chávez) to runaway inflation under both him & bus driver-turned-fraudulent-president Nicolás Maduro Moros… Here, now, without any further interruption(s), is the video that López recorded a few days ago, in the midst of his forced & sudden imprisonment!

"The reason I've come to you via this video is because the Venezuelan government has put out arrest warrants for the opposition to be detained by the state security forces… Our only hope is for a better Venezuela… The reason for this video is that there has been yet another abuse on the part of the government; the entity of falsehoods… manipulating the reality through which all Venezuelans are living… I want to tell all Venezuelans that I will not repent in anything that we've done up to this point… what was the protest that we made on a large scale some time ago… But, what materialized on the 12th of February - youth day - 100s of 1000s of Venezuelans in the streets… Not only because that was what normally occurred in the past, but in all of Venezuela; in the capital (Caracas), in the towns, in the villages… 10,000; 50,000; 70,000 people… Now, more than ever, we need to assume the effort to want to change, but it must not be passive; this effort must be active… Right now, the biggest difficulty facing our country is that Venezuelans are subjected to long lines; subjected to the expropriation of their salaries on the part of the government… When impunity is the order of the day, insecurity turns to complete fear… Our youth; when there is no future for our youth; when hospitals are being ordered to close; when there are no answers for any problems, I invite you - each and every one of you - to understand that change is deep within you; first in our conscience…We will not give up governing, and we will not take any of the lies the government transmits through the mediums of communication it either controls or manipulates… I invite you to become an organization point; a reference for your communities; for your families, so that they can organize for what faces us as of this moment… It took us organizing a massively profound social movement, where I visited all corners of the country; all the neighborhoods, and all the citizens, the entire country, men and women, together with the promise of a better Venezuela… We made sure we had the capacity to organize; that we had a capacity to broadcast our message, and to act when we must act; I appeal once again for protests similar to the 12th of February, for many reasons… First, because violence is the tool of those who do not have reasoning… The 12th of February, we saw how the public was manipulated to cause the deaths of two innocent Venezuelans, and how that helped create an environment of persecution that ended in this; in my imprisonment, on this arrest warrant…We know what actually occurred; here are the videos, there are the testimonies… We know the government… We know its long history of violence, but we also know our own population… They also know the potential for change that our population can bring… We also know the long fight that we've fought and that it's gotten us here… We'll probably have to deliver these messages via some mediums of communication, but I ask that you transmit this message however you can; that this message gets out that there can still be a better Venezuela… We will not permit them to defeat us; where we must have the most force is in our minds; in our convictions… They don't want to admit that they don't want to hear our determination to change our country… I would like to send an especially special message to the youth - the Venezuelan youth - our future is paved with a lack of hope, but it can be a much better future for you and everybody around you… But, it depends on you; on a lot; on errors; on irreverence; and on the determination we have to for justice to be done; that this hope turns into a collective hope… We are on the side of justice, and we are also on the side of those who want a better Venezuela… I thank all those who have supported us so far, but I also ask that you hurry… We are now looking for support for our cause; our cause has been, remains, and, now, more than ever, must be the exit of this government that has squandered individual liberty; that has robbed the Venezuelan population of its international monetary reserves; that has robbed the security and civil rights of all Venezuelans; the government that lies to remain in control, that pretends as if it owns the entire country; stepping all over the Venezuelan population… Now, more than ever, we await what we expect to be submitted to… The exit of the group in the government that has squandered Venezuela's future… We will fight; I will continue to do so, alongside my wife, knowing my daughter, Manuela, and my son, Leopoldo (Jr.), who carries the name of my father and grandfather, who were also persecuted… Through them, I have found the force to continue this fight; in the innocence of my children, who, today, still don't know what is actually occurring in this country… Through them, I found the force to know that I must fight for a better Venezuela that, when they grow up, can be much better than what exists today for all children… As the poet, Andrés Eloy, once wrote, "…the father of a million is everybody's father, hoping for a better future for their children; I want a better future for all their children; for all children…" He never indicated what they were fighting for, but it wasn't against cancer; it was so we could maintain the force, reverence, the nation, the organization, the discipline, and the conviction… They might be millions, but we are on the correct side, and we will win this fight; we will bring about change… It depends on all of us, and it depends on everybody…" #SOSVenezuela

The international response so far, you might ask? Why, crickets, I tell you!

Some of you people might want me to keep updating you on that ongoing situation, but honestly, I don't think there's much we can do other than "sit on the sidelines" & watching both Venezuela & Ukraine "go up in flames" slowly, but surely! Until then…

NOTABLE GARDEN STATE DEBUTS: In 2007, when MLS barely registered on anybody's radar around here, the local sports teams started abandoning the Meadowlands for the "Brick City" of Newark, a certain Brit made his MLS debut in a now-demolished stadium that now serves as a parking lot for its replacement… The N.J/N.Y. Red Bulls/L.A. Galaxy game played on the night of 8/18/07 (which I actually attended, along with 66,237 others, up at the top of the upper seating level…) set all kinds of attendance records - biggest attendance in NYRB franchise history, home or road; biggest MLS attendance in stadium history (which included a few NASL games in the late 70s!); biggest outdoor sports attendance in state history; as well as beating the 61,316 MLS Cup attendance record set back in 2002! Those reasons, however, are not why that night was so notable - it was more notable for welcoming the league's 1st Brit, English national teamer David Beckham, to MLS, allowing him to build up enough exposure over here to be able to make other MLS decisions, which he recently did when he acquired a financial stake in the newly-created expansion Miami FC…

strangely relevant for the next part of this post: 

we are always asked
to understand the other person's
viewpoint
no matter how
out-dated
foolish or
obnoxious.

one is asked
to view
their total error
their life-waste
with
kindliness,
especially if they are
aged.

but age is the total of
our doing.
they have aged
badly
because they have
lived
out of focus,
they have refused to
see.

not their fault?

whose fault?
mine?

I am asked to hide
my viewpoint
from them
for fear of their
fear.

age is no crime

but the shame
of a deliberately
wasted
life

among so many
deliberately
wasted
lives

is. - U.S. poet Charles Bukowski; Be Kind

http://celebrity.yahoo.com/video/mariah-carey-disses-ariana-grande-003321665.html

A few weeks ago, this post happened:

http://anytandeverything.blogspot.com/2014/01/another-teen-celeb-responds-to-some-of.html

This time, however, the criticism source has shifted from a bunch of seemingly anonymous online idiots to an over-the-hill, washed-up, "look at me…" 1990s pop singer! She thought she could keep her career going on the same old, same old, fake-sounding voice of hers… trying to make the rest of us think she could somehow make us get emotional, just by listening to her… Well, after that continued experiment mercifully ended, guess what happened in 2010? She dared to capitalize on the "cheerfulness" associated with the holiday season, & instead of conveying those tones through her one & only (to date) Christmas song, she instead made everybody I knew back then want to avoid hearing her take on anything Christmas-related, & you know what was even worse than that? Stupid ABC played along with her pointless attempt by overplaying her throughout its special edition Christmas Day telecasts the next few years… Thankfully, that ended before all the recent changes in that league, with the lockout that forced the season to begin on Christmas Day, & all the broadcasting changes the league has made, yet ABC has (thankfully) not allowed her back on its telecasts since 2010… Now, I can't exactly tell you people the same thing about that American Idol piece of ****, since she's become involved as a judge & "mentor", despite the show crashing ratings-wise throughout each subsequent season this decade… You know what that tells me? She's desperate, now that ABC refuses to play any of her Christmas stuff, & especially since Idol is becoming less relevant by the season now, she suddenly feels she has the nerve to bash an innocent soon-to-be-21 (& legal, in this country!) year-old who's had barely a year in that business, & who made her public debut in Newark last summer… You know who you people are ******* with when you criticize those young, up-&-coming performers? You're not just ******* with their mindsets; you're not just ******* with their public relations peoples' mindsets; you're ******* with all of our mindsets… those of us who are much closer in age to them than you'll ever be… You can try all you want, but you'll never come close to relating to them, whereas those of us within a few years' age difference will be able to relate to them… Actually, now that I just went off in the manner in which I just did, I think there's a certain late 1960s British rock band that had a little something to say about such differences in relations…



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